New Orleans leads as candidate to host Pro Bowl

The future of the Pro Bowl is on the NFL owners' agenda when they meet Tuesday in Atlanta, and while a spokesman for the league said there was no decision on whether the all-star game would be played in 2013, New Orleans, not Honolulu, may be the leading candidate to host the event.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reports league officials asked Superdome officials to hold Jan. 27 — the week before the Super Bowl is played at the same venue — open "some time ago," but General Manager Alan Freeman said there has been no further discussion on whether the game would even be played.

The Pro Bowl has been played in Hawaii each year since 1980, with the exception of 2010, when the NFL moved the game to Miami, site of that year's Super Bowl. The 2012 Pro Bowl, played at Aloha Stadium, generated $25.3 million in economic impact for the state, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.